Dead in the Wake of the Kennedy Assassination

Albert Guy Bogard: Mysterious Death?

Albert Guy Bogard was the salesman at Downtown Lincoln-Mercury in Dallas,
Texas who had a customer he believed was Lee Harvey Oswald. The Warren
Commission concluded he was wrong about this,
but conspiracists have continued to believe that either Oswald or an "Oswald
double" was in fact Bogard's customer.

Bogard left Dallas, and returned to Louisiana, where he died on February 15, 1966. His death is on all the
"mystery deaths" lists.

Was there, in fact, anything "mysterious" about his demise?

An article on Bogard's death was published in the February 17, 1966,
Coushatta Citizen.

The coroner's report said Bogard was found in his late model car, doors
locked, and a white piece of garden hose extending from the exhaust to
the left rear window, the switch on.

Dr. L'Herisson said Bogard's parents, Mr. and Mrs. A.T. Bogard, said
their son had been ill with flu some few days days before and had been
despondent. On Monday night he had come to his parents home to ask them
if he could borrow a piece of garden hose. Bogard lived in Shreveport.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete Tuesday afternoon pending the arrival
of a sister from South Carolina. Rose-Neath Funeral service is in charge.

Jimmy Harper, who is the husband of Bogard's first cousin, actually
discovered Bogard dead in the car (although Bogard's uncle had seen the
car at the cemetery, but didn't want to approach it, so he went to get
Harper).

There was no sign of a struggle or any violence at the scene.

In the trunk of the car were Bogard's shoes and a stack of newspapers
all having headlines about the JFK assassination. The car itself was an
overdue rental unit. The gas tank was empty.

Harper confirmed that Bogard had been depressed before his death. He
said Bogard's mother had been worried about him. Harper thought it was
a combination of "woman" problems and financial problems.

Harper was well aware of Bogard's place on the "mystery deaths" lists.
He had learned about "mystery deaths" and Bogard's place on the lists from a magazine he read at the barber shop waiting for a
haircut. While he didn't report any evidence that the death was anything
but a suicide, he speculated that Bogard knew that people were out to get
him, and may have taken his own life for that reason. (Source: John McAdams'
phone interview with Harper on June 1, 2001.)

But the question has to be asked: what
did he know that would cause conspirators to want to shut him up? He had told
the Warren Commission about the "Lee Oswald" customer looking to buy a
car. What else is he supposed to have known that he hadn't already
revealed? There is, in fact, no evidence he knew anything else of significance.

However, the testimony of Bogard's parents pretty much seals this case. He was depressed. He got a piece of garden hose from his parents. What happened was a person tragedy that has provided grist for the mills of the conspiracy cottage industry ever since.